Yuletide of Symphonia!
by Jack of All Suits
Summary: Follow the nine heroes as they go through Christmas time and have to deal with carolling, snowball fights with summon spirits and much more.


**Hello hello hello, and Ho Ho Ho! **

**This is my gift to you guys, that's right, a Christmas ToS! There are so many of these going around that poor lil' me didn't wanna feel left out! This is a one-shot because I'm a terrible victim of the 'No-updates-within-three-weeks' disease, and, well, Christmas is in a few days . Shame, eh?**

**Disclaimer: I no own ToS**

_Twas the day before Christmas and all through the streets,_

_The shoppers were scurrying,_

_Collecting their goodies and treats._

_Stockings would be hung_

_From chimneys with care_

_In hopes that rich parents soon would be there._

_**Yuletide of Symphonia!**_

Christmas spirit was everywhere, and everyone was getting into the holiday mood. Snow was gently slipping from the sky and falling gently onto the heads of bustling shoppers. Even the famed group of heroes was getting ready for the holidays, starting with the tree.

"No, no! To the right a bit!" Lloyd yelled as Regal and Kratos stumbled about the wide streets holding a _massive _tree (Massive as in 12 feet high and 7 feet wide). Regal grunted and shuffled forward while Kratos stepped back as calmly as possible. "Lloyd," He called through the branches, "We've been doing this for an hour!" He shifted the trees weight to solace his throbbing shoulder, which had just had the pleasure of meeting 'Mr. Brick wall' Well, at least he and Regal now knew never to let Lloyd lead them through the streets of Meltokio.

"Ow!" Regal hissed as he banged into another magitechnology-powered streetlamp. He continued to shuffle forward, trying in vain to listen to Lloyd's commands.

"Right!"

"Now left—I mean right… no forward!" Lloyd was practically ripping his hair out watching them stagger aimlessly down the street. "You guys should've gotten Raine or Sheena or Presea to come, girls are better at giving directions." He scratched his head. "Well, except Colette."

"We…" Kratos paused to wipe his brow, "Know Lloyd… we know." He scanned the tree and spotted Regal at the other end, having just as bad a time as he. "Lloyd, I have an idea." Kratos finally announced. "Grab the tip of the tree and lead us that way."

Lloyd paused and then gasped in understanding, running forward and snatching the tip and dragging the two other men after him and towards Zelos' massive mansion.

"Lloyd…" Regal began as they bumped into another alleyway that, while Lloyd could fit through, two men and a tree could not.

"Lloyd?" Now Kratos started up as he whacked his head against the wall again.

The boy just grinned and kept pulling them into their doom.

"LLOYD!" Kratos and Regal roared.

"Jeez, calm down, we're there!" Lloyd gestured to the mansion where Colette was waiting happily. "Lloyd!" She called upon seeing him. "Where are Regal and Kratos?" She looked around expectantly, only seeing Lloyd and a large, walking tree. Wait a minute… rewind! Walking tree? "Lloyd, why does the tree have legs?" Colette walked forward and bent down. One pair of shoes was purple, the other brown and gray with visible greaves. "Lloyd!" Colette cried, "It ate regal and Kratos!" Lloyd felt a sweatdrop roll down his head and he chuckled weakly. "Er… no, Colette—" he was cut off by her concerned antics, "Regal! Kratos! Can you guys hear me?" Colette approached the tree and squealed with shock and delight when two male voices answered her. "Colette," It was Kratos, "Regal and I are fine, open the door so we can set up the tree…" Angel strength was a plus, but even he had to admit his arms were becoming absolutely leaden. Regal nodded, though it went unseen. "Yes… Colette…" He breathed while shifting the tree's weight slightly.

Colette nodded and pushed open the two doors, only to be met by Zelos, who looked at the group of four in irritation, "Sure took you guys long enough. Jeez, how heavy can a tree be?" he walked over and ducked into the branches, I'll take it, creampuffs." The Chosen of Tethe'alla insisted, standing sturdily under the trunk.

"Be our guest." Kratos spoke for himself and Regal as the two men stepped away from their load, leaving Zelos to squeal like a little girl and collapse in a mound of flesh, pink cloth, and pine needles. "Owww… Help…" he moaned.

Regal smirked, "Why should we? We're the creampuffs, remember?" He bent down and looked Zelos in the eye.

"Please!" Zelos begged, "I think I have pine needles in my hair, do you know how horrible that would be?" He reached up towards his head and Colette grabbed his hand quickly. "Er…" She looked away and began to giggle. "Zelos… I wouldn't touch your hair if I were you." She tittered.

Lloyd grinned, "Why, Colette? He doesn't have pine needles in his hair…"

Zelos' hand came in contact with some sort of horrendous goop.

"…It's sap." Kratos said in the perfect apathetic tone as Zelos let out a wail and began to sob hysterically. "That'll never come out!" He cried, running into the bathroom to perform an emergency hair-revival operation.

"Hi!" Genis poked his head out from the kitchen happily. "Whoa! I like the tree, good choice, Lloyd!" Lloyd grinned at the comment; "You actually picked out something half-decent!" Genis laughed as Lloyd spluttered at the unexpected jab at his intelligence. "Genis! Where is your Christmas spirit?" Raine appeared in another one of the seemingly endless doorways. She strode past the growing group and slapped Genis on the head. "Apologize!" She ordered harshly.

"Sorry…" The boy grumbled amid Lloyd's chuckling, Colette's giggles, Zelos' wails, and Kratos and Regal's conversation on 'How the hell are we going to get a seven foot wide tree through three foot wide doors?'.

"Oh, you guys are back!" Sheena walked in from outside with bright red cheeks and a similarly colored nose. "Those kids can really throw snowballs!" She laughed, watching Kratos and Regal curse uncharacteristically while lifting the huge plant and trying to enter the living room with it.

"Move to the left a bit, Regal…" Kratos instructed quietly, though irritation was present as he struggled to guide the tree into the doorway.

"No, I'm sure if we go to the right…" Regal growled, jerking the branches to the opposite direction, equally annoyed. Kratos' eyes narrowed.

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Regal, we'll walk into a wall!"

"We'll walk into a wall your way as well, Kratos!"

The two men dropped the tree in frustration and glowered at each other. Lloyd and the others looked up at the feuding heroes and blinked.

"They said that the holidays were the most stressful time of the year," Raine admitted, "But I would have never thought that it would push the calmest members of our group to the brink of a war." She watched the two hiss inaudible insults at the other and thought up an idea worthy of a teacher. A safe, fun way to work out any anger towards another. "Would any of you care for a snowball fight?" The professor asked in her most innocent voice.

The others caught on quickly and nodded, "Yeah!" They all cheered, including Presea, who had just walked downstairs, and Zelos, who had emerged from the bathroom with magnificently clean hair. Regal and Kratos scowled darkly in their own frightening way. They nodded nonetheless, narrowed eyes promising certain death-by-snow to the other

Come five minutes, the heroes of the world had gathered in Zelos' massive backyard and had built forts, snowballs, and anything else necessary for the upcoming war of snow.

Sheena, Colette, Raine and Presea were hidden behind a large fort shaped somewhat like a dog. Lloyd, Genis and Zelos were behind a smaller, but equally sturdy wall of snow. Kratos and Regal… they had gone over and beyond the laws of forts and were able to stand behind their massive fortresses of frozen water particles.

Even the butler participated by walking out with a small red whistle. "When I blow my whistle," he addressed the group; "The snow battle shall commence. Are you all ready?" The heroes nodded eagerly, "Go!" The whistle sounded and the massacre began.

First to fall was Genis, who got a face full of snow compliments of Raine, who did a little dance and was shot down by Zelos while Lloyd busied himself making a snow bomb (A ball of snow about a two feet in perimeter). When it was done, he took off after Colette, leavingthe sanctuary of his fort, and thus falling victim to Celsius' wrath in the form of a _real_ snow bomb, one that blew up and everything. "That has got to be cheating!" Lloyd cried from a snowdrift.

"All is fair in love and war, Lloyd." Presea said with a hint of amusement as she flung snowball after snowball at Zelos who cackled and ducked them all until Raine tackled him into the snow with Lloyd and Genis, both who were struggling to get up as Celsius happily poured pounds of snow over them. "Heh heh heh…" She cackled merrily. Of course, that didn't last long, because Lloyd had a trump card…

"Origin!"

The king of Summon Spirits appeared before them all and looked at the sight before him, and spotted one of his fellow spirits drenching the Eternal Swordsman with snow. "Why have you called me, Lloyd?" Origin asked in his ominous tone.

"Backup!" Lloyd exclaimed happily. "You see, we're four hands short, considering Kratos and Regal have started a new war." He gestured towards the normally calm and collected men.

Kratos refrained from cackling as he hurled snow at Regal's fort, slowly chipping away at his defenses, unaware that the same type of barrage was assaulting his own protective stronghold. Both men paused when an eerie creaking was heard and their defense crumbled, leaving them both wide open for attack.

In the next minute, Kratos received:

One powerfully packed ball to the face

Three in the chest,

One in the stomach

At least ten in his hair

And an unknown number on his shoulders.

Regal received:

Twelve in his hair,

Seven on his legs

None on his face

And two on his chest.

Of course, at one point, everyone knows that anyone in a snow war gets snow down their shirt, and these two were little exception, but they were unfairly pitted against Celsius, Gnome, Origin and Sylph, all armed with a minimum of two snow balls and a maximum of a shovel full.

"Lloyd!" Kratos managed to threaten before getting bombarded by none other than Origin and Sylph while Celsius and Gnome attacked Regal.

Soon, Kratos and Regal were shivering fiercely and cursing in about twelve different languages between them. The Spirits were gone, probably for more ammo. I suppose every kind of life form has to have some fun every now and then.

Kratos turned to Regal and thrust out a quivering hand, "T-t-truce…" He said, trying not to stutter so much as snow slipped off of his auburn hair and dripped down his back, tracing his spine, which shivered violently in response.

"A-a-agreed… W-would you l-like to re-re-retaliate?" Regal smiled weakly and shuddered as a breeze blew by.

"Yes… come on… l-let's get some ammunition." Kratos stood up and offered the Lezareno president a hand, which he gladly took. With that said they began to formulate a plan.

When the other heroes and summon spirits returned, the area was vacant, except for the churned snow. "Where did they go?" Presea wondered finally, tilting her head in confusion.

"They can't have gone far." Celsius protested.

"Perhaps they were cold?" Sephie proposed simply.

"Cold? It's not very chilly out!" Yutis objected happily.

"Well… Let us take our leave then…" Origin decided, turning away until…

_splat!_

The king of Summon Spirits slowly turned around as a snowball struck his head. The other spirits began to stifle giggles and snorts as well as the group of heroes. Another snowball struck Lloyd's face and the boy yelped. Yet another came from the opposite direct and struck Celsius, who squeaked uncharacteristically.

In only thirty seconds, Kratos and Regal had the group in total chaos. Colette was using Lloyd as a shield, and Lloyd was using Genis. The summon spirits were trying to take their leave but were continuously interrupted by a snowball to the head.

In the end, Regal and Kratos were forced in the open when the feeling of an impending flu loomed above their heads. Thus resulting in Regal going straight to bed while Kratos flopped into a particularly squishy armchair. Lloyd walked in and sat down next to him, grinning, "You and Regal made a good team!" He said brightly.

Kratos nodded wearily and looked over, "What do you really want, Lloyd?" He demanded finally.

"Well, we're all going caroling tonight with—" Kratos cut his son off with a nod. "I suppose I'll go."

"But, Kratos, you ought to know—"

"I'm not that much of a bitter person, Lloyd."

"No, it's just…"

Kratos had already walked away and Lloyd sighed. Well, at least he knew where his intolerable stubborn streak had come from. "Fine…" The twin blade grumbled.

In exactly one hour, the group, minus a very ill Regal, was standing in front of the recently built Meltokio Orphanage. Kratos' skin color had paled considerably when a group of eight children flew out the door garbed in mountains of winter clothing, leaving only sparkling eyes to be seen under hats and scarves.

"Lloyd…" Kratos began uncertainly, "Is this what I believe it to be?"

Lloyd grinned enthusiastically, "All depends on what you think it is—Hi there!" The boy cut himself off to welcome the little group.

"They're very excited." The woman leading them smiled warmly, "It was so kind of you all to offer to take them caroling." With that said, she bent down and told the children to claim a hero to spend the night with.

Kratos sighed in defeat and felt a little hand close around his own. He looked down into the face of a pleasant-looking little boy, possibly four. "I'ma gonna be wif you!" He giggled, latching onto Kratos' leg.

The seraph gulped and forced himself to smile, like he had done for a full three years when Lloyd's life had begun. It was within his self-gathered information that young children could not be frowned at. "Hello." He said as happily as possible. "What's your name? I am Kratos." He offered the boy a hand to shake and her took it giddily. "My name's Cory! I even know how to spell it!" Kratos smiled one of his rare grins, flashing several teeth. "Can you now?" he asked in 'amazement'.

"Yeah! Yeah! Watch this Kwa…" Cory paused, unable to pronounce it correctly. "Kwatos!" he said slowly, then giggled triumphantly as he spelled his name in the snow in large, barely understandable letters.

"You are a very good speller." Kratos applauded, taking the youngster's hand again and leading him over to the group, all of which were mingling with the children.

"Hey, Hillary!" Sheena ran by, chasing a little, brown-eyed, red-haired girl. "You gotta wear your mittens!"

"You're a whole five years old?" Lloyd was gasping dramatically, "You're sure old!" His little buddy shook his head of blonde hair with a giggle. "No I'm not! You're old!"

"I'm not old!"

"Yes you are, you Silly Goose!"

Colette and a little girl with equally blonde hair were already walking and listing their greatest likes and dislikes.

"I like dogs."

"I like cookies."

"I don't not like anything, really."

"Neither do I!"

Zelos and Genis' two children, both with black hair and blue eyes, were paying more attention to each other's rather than their two new friends.

Presea had luckily gotten a very quiet, brown haired girl, whose gaze was focussed on the ground, answering questions with mumbled responses.

Raine was currently showing her boy how to write his name. His little face was screwed up in concentration until he finally spelled it on his own.

"Alright!" Lloyd yelled, "We're going caroling! Are you guys ready?" He watched the kids cheer wildly. "Let's go!"

Kratos smiled down at Cory again and the boy beamed back and stopped, causing the angel whose leg he clung to stumble. "What is wrong, Cory?" Kratos asked calmly.

"Shoulders."

"What do you mean?"

"Can I wide on your shoulders, Kwatos?" Cory stared at him with the biggest puppy eyes imaginable until the seraph agreed and, amazingly, picked the boy up and settled him on his shoulders, where he giggled gleefully amid the other hero's gaping.

"Kratos… is being… nice?" Lloyd spoke slowly, as though anything could break the image before his eyes.

"It's the apocalypse!" Zelos shouted, ducking his head, as if expecting the world as he knew it to explode beneath his feet.

Kratos looked up and blinked uneasily at the number of fascinated stares he was receiving. "…" His cool, apathetic expression returned and he frowned, "Am I really that amazing?" He demanded.

They all shook their heads dumbly and the seraph nodded, "Stop staring at us then, are you even aware that we have reached our first house?" The group turned around and was shocked to find they had, indeed, entered the residential area. With that said, Kratos took it upon himself and Cory to knock on his door. When it opened, an old couple was greeted by the worst, and yet somehow best, performance of Jingle Bells in their lives. Just the sight of sixteen 'youngsters' singing together made their hearts melt. After the last note, they all bowed in their own special way, from waving (Cory) to running forward and introducing themselves (Sheena, Lloyd and Colette's 'buddies').

The walk to the next area was quiet, and Cory was no longer on his high perch, but was walking alongside Kratos and Lloyd, who were talking bout things, a little boy knew nothing about.

Kratos looked up after a moment and a thought struck him, with a small smile, he called Cory to his other side, where he would be between Lloyd and Kratos. After a brief explanation, Lloyd grinned in understanding and they both took a hand and swung the boy back and forth between them, earning delighted squeals until Lloyd's buddy wanted a turn.

And so it went for five minutes, the sound of merry children and gleeful adults drifted down the road. Their singing was orrible to say the least, but the sight of the children- all of that had no parents- giggling and singing with their respective partners.

Over an hour later they trudged back to the orphanage to drop of the kiddies, and were shocked when they all gave a massive fight about it, resulting in the eight heroes feeling very guilty as they watched the children cry pitifully.

Lloyd was the first one to break down and sit next to his new 'bestest buddy'. If it meant the young child would stop crying, he'd sit here all night. The others slowly joined him and they got comfortable with children lying in their laps, or next to them.

Morning found the group still sleeping soundly where they had been: Lloyd was leaning against the wall, with a child in his lap.

Sheena was lying in a bed with a little girl beside her

Genis, Raine and their children were on a nest of blankets

Kratos was sound asleep with Cody on his lap, leaning on his chest contently.

Presea was sitting up on a bed, asleep, while her kid slept on in the blankets.

Colette was hugging her child tightly as she leaned against a wall in slumber.

Zelos and his buddy were sprawled on the floor, snoring.

When the workers entered the room come morning, they had giggled quietly at the sight and left, leaving them all to sleep in. The night's activities had been very strenuous by the looks of it. They all seemed far from stirring as the early-morning sunlight slithered through the curtains.

Around eight, Regal entered the building and was instructed as to which room his friends resided in. Before he entered, a nurse handed him a large, loud looking bell. "Poor dears," She explained, "I simply can't let them sleep all day."

Assuming she meant the children, Regal accepted the device and entered the room, only to see the kids up and about while the elders continued to slumber. The children looked up at Regal, then the bell. At once they opened their mouths to exclaim something, until the ex-convict gestured frantically to silence them. He smirked and stood in the middle of the room and the bell let out the loudest sound he'd ever heard.

"Guah!" The reaction was, to say the least, satisfying. The heroes were on their feet in seconds and chasing Regal out the door amid the cheery laughter of the children.

It was at least three in the afternoon now, and the group had decided if they kept after Regal he would die of lack of oxygen. So that led them all to the biggest, steepest, most fun looking hill in all of the worlds. "Whoa! Look at that. Colette!" Lloyd cheered; arming himself with a massive circular slide that could easily fit two or three people. "Let's go Lloyd!" Colette exclaimed.

As the two boarded their craft, Kratos frowned and sighed, "I am not letting you two go alone and kill yourselves." He decided finally, seating himself beside Colette. "Let's get this over with."

"Wait! You guys ought to know—" Zelos began, but was cut off when the three pushed off. "…That those kinds of slides spin…" The chosen finished pitifully.

"Hey, Kratos, why's this thing starting to spin around?" Lloyd asked dumbly, shifting his weight in hopes to stop the motion, but only watched as it got worse and the world became a blur.

"I don't know." Kratos admitted tensely as the spinning increased. "This is not good though…" He watched in horror as the world melded into a blur of white, green and blue.

"Whee!" Colette squealed, willing the slide to go even faster, unaware of an unforeseen horror heading their way.

"Say, What are they heading towards?" Genis wondered aloud, squinting his eyes to try and see.

Zelos gulped nervously and fidgeted. "A really… really big bump in the road?" He suggested in his most fake tone yet.

"WHOAA!" Lloyd, Colette and Kratos all yelled in shock and fright as the flew over a massive bump, flying at least three, maybe even four meters into the sky. "Everyone look out!" Lloyd yelled as the dish-like sled drilled into a deep snowdrift.

When the rest of the group arrived at the scene, their friends had yet to escape the confines of their snowy prison. "Lloyd, look out. You almost hit me."

"Argh! Something's on my leg!"

"Oops… that was me, sorry Lloyd!"

"Lloyd! That was my head!"

"Kratos? Oh… ouch! That has to hurt!"

"Yes… Lloyd… It does hurt."

"Oh, Kratos! Are you okay? Let me see!"

"Colette! That is where Lloyd hit me! Don't poke it!"

"I'm sorry!"

"It's okay Colette, Kratos is just an old windbag."

"What did you say, Lloyd?"

"Uh-oh! Come on guys! Dig me out! Fast!"

They needed no more bribing. Armed with mittens and a desire to save the eternal Swordsman, the group of six began to dig.

An hour later they were back in Meltokio, preparing for the final night before Christmas Day. All agreed that it had been the most magnificent Christmas Eve of their lives. Everyone was in one piece (Though Kratos had a rather nasty bruise on his forehead and Lloyd was quite sore) and there was truly peace on earth. Even the monsters that surrounded the cities seemed to be in hiding as good cheer spread from corner to corner. The orphanage children were visiting Zelos' house and with popcorn popping over a massive fire, they were all happy.

Come morning, the nine heroes awoke to the splendid sight of hundreds of presents, delivered by grateful citizens of the new world throughout the night. As kind a gesture as it was, by lunchtime, they all had one thing they never wanted to see again.

Lloyd-Fruitcake (Sure, they're nice below the fifty mark!)

Colette- Cat plushies (I really don't want to be mean but I like dogs!)

Zelos- brushes (I know you hunnies love my hair, but come on! Get original!)

Kratos- hairgel (My hair is natural! I don't need five hundred litres of green gook!)

Genis- cookbooks (Are they hinting I need to look off stuff to cook good!)

Regal- Pink lawn ornaments (Alright… I don't even know where these crazy women got this one model of a flamingo!)

Presea- sharpening stone (I do not think they are aware of how long one lasts…)

Sheena- sweaters (What the hell is with the dog designs? I've been over three for a while now, people!)

Raine- Physics For Dummies ( For dummies? Honestly! How rude!)

Obviously, they were all very relieved when lunch came around, and dove into the turkey without hesitation. Unfortunately, as anything did, a simple lunch turned into a competition to see who could eat the most. Surprisingly, Presea won, downing tenths of everything until the competition got sick merely watching her go.

In the end, the house was full of stuffed, happy heroes, the streets were lined with little children laughing, and best of all, a feeling of good will to all was in the air. I don't know about you, but I think this was a pretty good holiday, in fact, no one could ask for better!

_**Merry Christmas everyone!**_


End file.
